


what good is a lover who's scared?

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex Manes Deserves Nice Things, Angst, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Michael Guerin Being Supportive and Loving for Once, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26019805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: "What's going on? What'sgoing on?"Alex repeated, scoffing, "What's going on is your brother, who I went out of my goddamn way to help more than once, is the reason I have to have a formal meeting with all of my fucking superiors and, if that doesn't go well, he's the reason I'll be court martialed."
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 25
Kudos: 146





	what good is a lover who's scared?

**Author's Note:**

> title: unlikely lovers from falsettos 
> 
> if i missed any tags, let me know

Alex Manes stormed into the Wild Pony with an uncharacteristic fury in his eyes.

Michael immediately assumed it was for him, so he stood up and took a step in front of the table to take the brunt, but Alex pushed past him. Michael grabbed his arm and tried to figure out what was going on, but Alex yanked his arm out of his grasp.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Michael asked. Alex looked at him and Michael noticed the anger was laced with fear.

"What's going on? What's _going on_?" Alex repeated, scoffing, "What's going on is your brother, who I went out of my goddamn way to help more than once, is the reason I have to have a formal meeting with all of my fucking superiors and, if that doesn't go well, he's the reason I'll be court martialed."

"What?" Michael breathed, panic slowly stirring in him.

"What do mean, what the hell did I do?" Max asked. Alex seemed to remember that he was there and turned to face where he sat in the booth, visibly fuming. Michael didn't know whether to try to calm him down or if he should let him yell at Max.

"I gave them that space to use as a lab to save your ass. I was giving them somewhere safe to experiment and figure shit out because they needed it to _save you_. And you just, what, decided to blow it up for fun? What the hell am I supposed to tell my superiors? What am I supposed to say when they investigate and I have no idea what they'll find? They'll look into me, who I'm affiliated with, and they'll find a whole bunch of shit I covered up to help _you_ ," Alex scoffed, shaking his head. Max was just staring with wide eyes. "What, you don't have anything to say? You aren't even going to try to explain why the fuck you did that?"

"I..." Max breathed, "I just... I needed to destroy Liz's work. She was going to expose us."

Alex laughed humorlessly, the whole sound wet with tears. Michael felt his heart pounding in his ears as he became flooded with more than one genuine concern for Alex, for his siblings, all because Max had less self control than everyone he knew.

"Right, okay, so you blew up government property that I was in control of? Do you understand what you've done?" Alex asked, shaking his head, "They're going to find something, they always do. We're all going down."

"I didn't realize it was government property, no one told me, I mean, I didn't think–"

"Yeah, you're right, you didn't think," Alex scoffed, "Because fucking exploding a building shouldn't be on the list of options at all ever. I don't give a shit what's going on. Your move was idiotic and we're all going to suffer."

Alex turned to leave and Michael followed. Typically, in times like these, he turned to anger and booze to distract himself, but he'd been trying to do better. That meant going to Alex for comfort. But, unfortunately, Alex couldn't be that for him right now, so he'd have to find something that helped them both.

"Alex," Michael called, jogging to keep up with him as he stalked towards his truck.

"I can't right now, Guerin, I really can't," Alex said. Michael didn't stop.

"Just tell me what I can do and I'll do it. Do I need to get Isobel to mindwarp someone? Do you wanna go on the run? Tell me what you need and I'll make it happen," he said.

Alex stopped with his hand on the handle of his truck's door, taking a deep, shaky breath. Michael waited for him to say something, but a few minutes went by before he realized Alex was crying. He hesitated, unsure if he should touch him. But then he remembered all the times that Alex needed him to just stop arguing and to just hold him for a minute.

So he wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Guerin," Alex said weakly, his voice a whine as he tried to hide his tears by looking away. Michael bowed his head into his neck and just hugged him, unable to relax until Alex's arms layered over his. "I'm sorry."

"For what? Max is the one who blew up a building," Michael said, "Which I didn't know he did. I swear I didn't."

"No, I'm sorry I can't protect you anymore," Alex admitted softly, shuttering a breath as he held back a sob. Michael gave him a small squeeze.

"Hey, stop that. None of this is your fault. Besides, this whole protecting thing isn't one-sided and this isn't over. Just tell me what needs to happen."

"I don't know," Alex admitted, clearly frustrated, "I don't _know_. I don't know how to get out of this one, Michael. They're probably exploring the site right now and finding what they ca–oh, God, your DNA is all over that place. Fuck."

"Hey, hey," Michael said, pushing away his own fear as he focused on Alex's. He'd always failed at that before. Not this time. He reached up and brushed the tears off his cheeks. "Look, it's not over. Let's head out to the cabin and come up with a plan. It's gonna be okay. I'm not giving up."

"I'm going to be court-martialed, but none of it's gonna be public knowledge once they figure out what I've been covering up," Alex said, panic in his voice, "I'm either... I'm gonna go missing. I know too much, Michael, I know too much."

"Hey," Michael said, grabbing his chin and making his look at him in hopes it would steady his breathing, "You're not going anywhere and neither am I. We're going to fix this."

"How can you be so sure?" Alex asked. Michael searched his face for a viable answer. A few came to mind, stubbornness and denial being major ones, but there was one bigger than all of that.

"Because our time isn't up, Alex. I still got a lifetime with you in my future and I'll be damned if that's taken from us," Michael said. Alex sniffled, his eyebrows furrowing. "So we're going to figure a way out of this, okay? We always do. It's gonna be okay. You trust me?"

"Yes," Alex said without hesitation, "Yes, I trust you."

"Then let's get to work."

Michael got into the driver's seat of Alex's truck and began the long drive out to the cabin, praying to anyone who might be listening that he wouldn't let Alex down.

Not this time.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
